Corona Four Guide

General Tutorial

Case Tutorial

Welcome to one of history's most beautiful writing machines, the low-profile Corona Four.

This came in on the heels of the Corona Three, which was a folding typewriter. It is one of the first 'modern' portable typewriters.

They came in a few colors, and a few technical formats. Mostly, the ribbon color selector changed position and design, a few rulers, etc.

These are very resilient writers, and shouldn't give many problems! Or they'll give you a headache now and again. If so, 'the obstacle is the way.'

The ribbon size is universal (you can find Universal Typewriter Ribbon on Ebay or Amazon). The spool is rare. Keep that ribbon spool, because those are specialized, and you'll wind ribbon onto the vintage ones (or you can order another metal from us).

Similarly, the ribbon covers can get lost. Try to hold onto those! They are hard to replace! (Most of the machines you see are missing those). Also, they have to go on the right way or the ribbon won't feed.

You can rewind the new ribbon onto those spools. Also there are little metal clamps at the center of the spools which clip the ribbon on... don't lose those either! You can fabricate them but it is difficult.

Usually there is some wear to the left ribbon cover, and the trick with that is to be careful not to ding it during use or packing. It's on 99% of the machines.

The carriage lock is a little switch over the right platen knob. The margins are often moved to the middle during shipping. Move those out to the edges to use the machine.

Here is a little video overview of the case. The case? Yes, it may not be intuitive to us digital folk.

Here is a little video overview of a rare Lavender Corona Four from the twenties.

A manual is here. (there are a few subtle variations across years but this should get you going).

Enjoy and please let me know if you have questions!